Sara Symington

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Sara Symington
Personal information
Full nameSara Symington
Born (1969-09-05) 5 September 1969 (age 54)
 England
 United Kingdom
Height1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight63 kg (139 lb; 9.9 st)[1]
Team information
DisciplineRoad & Track
RoleRider
Professional team
2004S.A.T.S.

Sara Symington (born 25 September 1969)[2] is a female English former professional cyclist.

Cycling career[edit]

She was the first British female rider to take a medal in a World Cup race, which she achieved in Australia in 1999. She represented Great Britain at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics and England at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and 2002 Commonwealth Games. She also rode at the 1998, 1999, and 2000 UCI Road World Championships[3] and on the track at the 2001 and 2002 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.

Personal life[edit]

Symington was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, lived in Aylestone and she now lives in Nottingham.[4] She had competed as a javelin thrower as a junior,[5] and she was a member of the national triathlon team prior to becoming a full-time cyclist. Symington started her elite triathlon career whilst combining studying for a master's degree with a spell serving in the police, having previously graduated from Loughborough University with a degree in sports science.[5]

Post cycling[edit]

Symington retired from competition after the 2004 Olympics: following this she worked in business for two years, before returning to the sports world through working as a performance advisor for UK Sport.[5][6] She was subsequently appointed performance director of Archery GB in February 2009.[7] In February 2015 England Netball announced that she would join them as their performance director the following month.[6] In that role she helped the England national netball team to its first Commonwealth gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. In August 2020 Symington was appointed by UK Athletics as their performance director.[8] She left this role in October 2021 in order to take up an appointment as head of British Cycling's Olympic and Paralympic programmes.[9]

Palmarès[edit]

1998
1st British National Circuit Race Championships
2000
2nd British National Time Trial Championships
1st: Tour of Spain
1st Tour of Montreal
10th Olympic Games
6th World Championships
2001
3rd Pursuit, British National Track Championships
7th Liberty Classic, Philadelphia
6th Montreal World Cup
8th Pursuit, UCI Track Cycling World Championships
1st (stage win) Tour de L'aude
2002
8th Pursuit, UCI Track Cycling World Championships

1st: (stage win) Tour de L'aude

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Sara Symonds Olympic Profile". British Olympic Association.
  2. ^ "Sara Symington". Cycle Base.
  3. ^ "Sara Symington". procyclingstats.com. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  4. ^ "GB CYCLING TEAM PROFILES". Archived from the original on 16 October 2007.
  5. ^ a b c Vernon, Annie (3 March 2015). "International Women's Day interview: Team GB's Sara Symington". Dame Kelly Holmes Trust. Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  6. ^ a b "Sara Symington appointed as Performance Director". England Netball. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  7. ^ Gibson, Owen; Kessel, Anna; Jackson, Jamie; Bierley, Steve; Bull, Andy; Moore, Richard (27 July 2009). "Only three years to go but will our athletes be ready?". theguardian.com. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  8. ^ Houston, Michael (20 August 2020). "Symington appointed new UK Athletics performance director". Inside the Games. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  9. ^ "UK Athletics chief Joanna Coates and performance director Sara Symington resign". bbc.co.uk. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021.

External links[edit]

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